Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light
by kay777s
Summary: Halfway through her 6th year at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger makes a startling discovery about how to defeat Voldemort. The only problem is, she has to hide it from everyone she holds dear. What will happen when she finds out that the only person she is told she can trust is the person she most hates?
1. Chapter 1

Hermione sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. She reached out to take another sip from her mug of coffee just to find that it was empty. She desperately wanted to pour herself another cup, but she figured 4 cups would probably be too much caffeine. It was half past 4 in the morning and Hermione was in the library doing all the research that she could on spells for immortality. All she wanted was to be in her warm cozy bed sleeping her problems away, with Voldemort's impending attack at the very top of the list. However, Hermione, the token bookworm friend, had been asked by Harry to find out as much as she could about ways to gain immortality, which they knew was Voldemort's goal. Thus, she was stuck in the Hogwarts library, doing the research that nobody else wanted to do. She'd already looked into immortality potions and she had just exhausted the immortality spell section, not that she was able to find anything. According to both theorists and people crazy, or desperate, enough to try these methods, nothing worked.

 _There_ ** _must_** _be something I'm missing_ , Hermione thought to herself, carefully closing yet another large and ancient book. She opened a book entitled "The Fountain of Youth: Myth or Reality?" and got ready to dive in when suddenly, she heard a noise. It sounded as though someone had closed the library door. She was sure it wasn't Filch, as Harry had distracted the house elves in the kitchen while Ron slipped some sleeping potion in Filch's pumpkin juice, knowing that Hermione would need full access to the library after hours if they were going to make any progress in their search. Hermione, unsure of who could possibly be in the library, quickly disillusioned herself, shoved her notes in her bag, and charmed the area to look as though nothing was out of the ordinary. For extra safety, she put on Harry's invisibility cloak and started to make her way to the entrance of the library, where she'd here the noise.

Just as she'd suspected, someone had breached the wards she had placed on the library's entrance. Yet, there was nobody in sight. Whoever it was must be disillusioned, which meant that they were probably a student who didn't want to get caught. Hermione was torn between revealing herself and trying to come to an agreement with whomever it was so that she could get back to her research, and staying hidden to find out why the person was even in the library. After a few seconds of mental debate, her curiosity got the best of her and she silently cast a _Homenum Revelio_ over the part of the library that she could see. Almost immediately, a brilliant red marker appeared, for her eyes only, over the body of the trespasser. The person was hastily making his or her way into the restricted section, piquing Hermione's interest even more.

Hermione quietly began to trail the mystery person, relying on the marker to see where he or she was headed. At the entrance to the restricted section, the person stopped and de-warded the area skillfully. _Clearly not their first time breaking into the restricted section after hours_ , Hermione noted as she slipped through the door before it shut, gracefully dodging the cushioning charm the person directed towards the door, to prevent it from closing loudly. Hermione was beginning to gain some respect for the disillusioned student, appreciated how careful they were being so as not to get caught.

The person seemed to know exactly where to go, as they beelined straight to the seventh row down and started searching the stacks. Hermione went as close to the person as she was willing to go, and was immensely surprised to see that they were standing in the section of immortality. The person had stopped moving, so Hermione stood stock still and waited to see what would happen, once again torn between throwing off the cloak to confront the person and waiting it out. She decided on the latter and had only been waiting for a few minutes when the marker moved down a few feet and then a small book, very thin and hidden between large daunting books slowly began inching its way off of the shelf. Hermione could feel waves of dark energy coming from the book and unconsciously backed up a few inches. All of a sudden, without even having opened the book, the person slid the book back into place and started heading for the door. Making a mental note to come back and take a look at the book, Hermione took off behind the person, intent of discovering who it was that was looking at dark books in the restricted section well past closing time.

By the time the pair got back to the entrance, Hermione had nearly lost all hope in her tactic and revealed herself to the person. It seemed luck was on her side, however, as right before the person slid out the library doors, their disillusionment charm let up a bit and Hermione was able to catch a glimpse of their back and hair.

That was all she needed, however, as after six years of intense verbal sparring and having to stay on her guard 24/7, Hermione was absolutely positive that she could pick Draco Malfoy and his ridiculously blonde hair out of a group of hundreds. Now, not only was she curious as to what the book was about, Hermione was also suspicious. The ferret was always up to no good, and Hermione's gut told her that this time was no different.

Thanking the gods that she did not reveal herself to him, Hermione retraced Malfoy's initial steps, heading back into the restricted section for a better look at that book. She had no intention of touching it, not knowing what a dark book like that might do to a person of her blood status, but now she definitely needed to find out what book it was. She finally reached the section and tilted her head to get a better look at the book's spine. It did not have any words on it, but there was a very small owl engraved on the bottom, so faded that it would not have been noticeable to someone who was not closely examining the book.

Hermione was getting really bad vibes from the book, so she decided she'd inspected it enough and started making her way out of the restricted section. _Why was Malfoy even here? Is he using this books to help Voldemort become immortal?_ Hermione was so full of questions that she didn't remember to cushion the door to the restricted section, and it closed with a loud click. Not wanting to get caught, she briskly went back over to her workspace, silently and magically re-shelved the books she'd been using, and grabbed her bag.

Making sure she was still fully covered by the cloak, Hermione exited the library and made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, ready to sleep, even if she would only be getting 2 to 3 hours of it. Hermione took the secret entrance into the common room that she'd discovered in her third year but withheld from sharing with anyone else. She did not want to alert the (sleeping) Fat Lady that she was not in the Tower when she very well should be.

By the time Hermione finally dragged herself into bed, it was nearly 6 in the morning. She pulled the curtains around her bed closed, intending on skipping breakfast and sleeping for as long as possible before her class in the morning. Hermione pulled her duvet up to her chin and settled in, but three questions were floating around in her brain, preventing her from drifting off. She sighed softly, resolving to write the questions down and return to them once she had some sleep in her. She reached for her journal and wand, both of which were conveniently located right in her pillowcase, and proceeded to write the questions down:

 _What business does Draco Malfoy have with that book and topic?_

 _What does that owl on the spine of the book mean, and why does it seem so familiar?_

 _What am I missing?_

Hermione returned her wand and journal to their places and promptly drifted off for some well-deserved and much needed sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, so please do not sue!

The next morning saw Hermione off to a late start. She didn't have class until 10, so she skipped breakfast in favor of another hour of sleep. Hermione got out of bed at 9:30 precisely, which only gave her 30 minutes to get ready and get to class. She hurriedly got dressed, throwing on her robe and bolting down through the Common Room and out the door. Her first class was potions with the Slytherins, so she sprinted down to the dungeons, not wanting to lose any points for her House.

Hermione got to class 5 minutes before it started, much later than usual, as she was typically at least 15 minutes early. She walked into class on autopilot, making her way to her usual seat, just to find Lavender Brown, one of her roommates, in her seat. Lavender wasn't even part of this NEWT level Potions class, but had recently started dating Ron and was perpetually draped all over him. Harry sat next to the couple, trying to look at anything other than the exchange of saliva happening way to close to him for comfort. Too tired to try to pry the couple apart and reclaim her seat, Hermione walked past Harry, whose smile at her looked more like a grimace. Two rows back, Hermione saw an empty seat next to a person with their hood up and head down. She slid into the seat seconds before professor Slughorn entered the classroom, passing Lavender who was rushing out.

Hermione's quill and parchment were already out and Professor Slughorn had already started his lecture when she noticed who was sitting next to her. Draco Malfoy, the one and only, was trying but failing to keep his head up and eyes open. Hermione noticed that he had charmed his quill to copy down everything Slughorn said onto his parchment. She was so distracted by the quill rapidly moving across the page that she nearly missed the question that the professor had directed to her.

"Sorry professor, but could you repeat the question?" Hermione said, turning pink. She wasn't worried about whether or not she knew the answer but was embarrassed about having been caught not paying attention.

"Well I had just asked the class if anyone knew what the effect of the Volubilis Potion is and seeing how nobody knew the answer, I now put the question to you." Ever since Hermione agreed to go to a few of Slughorn's Slug Club meetings, he had been putting her on the spot in class, wanting to show her knowledge off whenever he could. She typically did not mind much, but it made being distracted in class all the more obvious and embarrassing.

"The Volubilis Potion alters the drinker's voice. It can also restore the drinker's voice should he or she find themselves under the effects of a Silencing Charm."

"Thank you Miss Granger," Slughorn beamed at her and Hermione cringed, remembering there was to be yet another Slug Club dinner that week.

Hermione quickly glanced to her left, hoping that Malfoy hadn't noticed that she had been staring at his quill, only to find the Slytherin awake and looking right at her. She was startled for a moment, staring right back at Malfoy before turning away abruptly. A few seconds later, she could still feel Malfoy looking at her, so when Slughorn turned his back to write something on the board, she whispered to Malfoy:

"Take a picture ferret, it'll last longer." Malfoy jumped a little, and blinked a few times before responding.

"I was distracted by how especially awful you look this morning. Ever heard of a hairbrush Granger?" Hermione opened her mouth, ready to shoot an insult right back at him, but she didn't have the chance to respond, as Slughorn had turned around, holding a pouch in his hand. On the board, he had written a list of ingredients.

"We have now covered all of the lectures regarding the potions you will be learning to brew in this NEWT level course, so now it is time to make them. In the interest of fairness, you will be drawing a partner out of this bag with whom you are expected to work, both inside and out of the classroom. You will be preparing for a partner evaluation at the end of the year," Slughorn explained, "Before I get any complaints, you are not allowed to switch partners. Should any issues arise, work them out amongst yourselves. Your first task is the Volubilis Potion, which we covered today. The ingredients are on the board and the steps are in your books. You will turn in your potion at the end of class to be graded."

Hermione, never particularly religious, wondered if it was too late to pray that she got Harry or Ron as her partner. Slughorn started at the front of the room. He had charmed the bag to remove the name of the person that was choosing, so as to prevent any confusion. _So far so good_ , Hermione thought, _neither Harry nor Ron have been chosen yet_.

Padma Patil, who was sitting right in front of Harry, drew Ron's name. Hermione felt bad for the girl. Padma had gone to the Yule Ball with Ron two years ago and had never quite forgiven him for how he had treated her. _Well at least they'll be forced to get back on good terms,_ thought Hermione, _but now Ron's out and it's Harry's turn to choose_. Hermione was on pins and needles as Harry reached into the pouch. Harry wasn't half bad at potions, and Hermione would much rather work with him for the rest of the year than one of the Slytherins who hated her simply because she was not a pureblood. Harry looked down at the slip of paper in his hand and immediately looked up and straight at her. However, the look on his face was not one of relief as he mouthed _Blaise Zabini_ to Hermione, stood up, and went to join Blaise at their work station.

Hermione's face fell with the realization that the only people left were people she had absolutely no interest in working with, and when Slughorn finally reached her table, she had steeled and resolved herself to accept her fate with grace and dignity.

Hermione hesitantly reached into the bag and shuffled around the papers before pulling one out. She really did not want to look at the name on the paper, but decided she'd rather rip the bandaid right off.

Hermione read the name, re-read the name, and then checked it again just to be sure. Then, she let the paper fall onto the table, held her head high and walked over to the work station assigned to her. Moments later, a yawning Draco Malfoy joined her, took a seat and pulled his hood up saying, "You don't expect me to do the work, do you mudblood?" Hermione stared at him as he yawned again.

"Little tired today are we Malfoy? Late night?" The minute she said it, Hermione regretted it. She knew Malfoy, the paranoid arse, would read into it, and she was right.

"What's that supposed to mean Granger?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he stared into hers. Hermione lowered her eyes under the pretense of preparing the work station, so as not to give herself away.

"Nothing ferret, just do your half of the work well and we won't have an issue," she replied, standing up to gather the ingredients. Malfoy sneered at her back as she walked away, but stood up and took out his potions book, turning to the right page. Hermione returned with the ingredients and she and Malfoy set to work, chopping and stirring.

Hermione was surprised to find that Malfoy was actually quite good at potions, definitely better than Harry and Ron, and they worked well together when they were not arguing. Both students remained silent while preparing the potion, about which neither could complain. They finished their potion first, bottled it, and turned it in to Professor Slughorn.

"Ah, this is perfect! I would have expected nothing less from my star puplils," Slughorn beamed at them before telling them that once they received their assignment for the next class, on which they would have to work together, they could leave. Hermione looked over at Harry, who was trying to stop his potion from bubbling over as a frantic Blaise Zabini flipped through his notes trying to figure out what went wrong. She left a note on Harry's bag saying that she would see him at lunch and exited the room right behind Malfoy.

Once they got into the hallway, Malfoy turned to her and said, "Listen mudblood, we're going to have to work together for the rest of the year. I don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to, so like you said, you do your part, I'll do mine, and we won't have to interact. Deal?"

Hermione blinked, startled, before responding, "Whatever Malfoy, as long as you don't mess up my grade, we'll be fine." Malfoy nodded once before saying, "Fine. I'll do the first half of the next assignment, you do the second, and we'll meet tomorrow 15 minutes before class starts to go over it. Meet me in the classroom. Don't be late mudblood, I don't like to be kept waiting." Not waiting for a reply, Malfoy turned on his heel and walked away from Hermione.

Hermione watched Malfoy's retreating form for a moment longer before laughing softly under her breath at his arrogance and walking toward the library. She planned on doing some more research on ways to gain immortality before she went to Advanced Charms. Little did she know, Malfoy had swiftly walked around the corner, disillusioned himself, waited for her to continue walking, and was, at present, following her to the library.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Harry Potter, so please do not sue!

The disillusioned Draco slowly and cautiously trailed Hermione to the library. Hermione greeted Madam Pince with a smile and a nod and proceeded to the back of the library. She paused at the door to the Restricted Section, looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and quickly opened and slipped through the door, making sure to use a cushioning charm, as Malfoy had done the night before.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, the very same Malfoy had slipped in after her and was watching her very closely. Hermione, never one to dawdle, quickly made her way to the aisle and section to which she had followed Malfoy. She took her wand out and silently levitated the book off the shelf and into the air in front of her. Having ventured into obscure book stores in Diagon Alley, Hermione was well aware of the possible consequences of touching a Dark book were.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione focused on splitting her magic. She had, not surprisingly, read about splitting magic in a book she found in a corner of Flourish and Blotts, and it had become her secret project. According to the book, if a wizard or witch had enough magic and could control it well enough, he or she could simultaneously cast and hold multiple spells all at once. As of yet, Hermione had only been able to magically stir her tea while levitating it in the air, but she was sure that she could master the technique with enough practice. In this instance, however, Hermione had to focus on keeping the book in the air and turn the pages as well.

Hermione focused on casting both spells, wand-hand shaking with the energy she was expending. It took several seconds before the book slowly opened and the pages started to turn. Hermione got as close to the book as she could without touching it, trying to ignore the dark waves that had intensified the moment the book opened. She was skimming the pages, trying to find anything of interest, hoping to find information on immortality. Hermione was curious about something, though:

"What could Malfoy have been looking for in this book?" Hermione muttered to herself as she skimmed through sections on dark curses and wards.

Malfoy, for his part, was standing at the end of the aisle. He was torn between turning and running, confronting Granger, and staying and gathering more information. When he saw Hermione go down this particular aisle and take out that particular book, his stomach started to churn anxiously. When heard Hermione mutter to herself about him, his stomach threatened to unload itself onto the carpeted floor. Determined to not get caught by the witch, Malfoy turned to move away. However, as he shifted his weight onto one foot to lift the other, the blasted floor let out a creak. Malfoy froze, hoping that Hermione would be too absorbed in her book to have noticed.

It seemed he was not in luck, as Hermione's head snapped towards his direction. He remained frozen, praying that Hermione would simply go back to skimming through the book.

What Malfoy did not know was that Hermione had been training with Harry to be more alert and prepared. Therefore, Hermione quickly re-shelved the book, her eyes never leaving the end of the aisle. Once the book was back in its place, Hermione turned her body to face the direction of the noise, wand still in hand. She wordlessly cast a _Homenum Revelio_ , cursing at herself under her breath for not having done so before.

Malfoy could not possibly have saved himself from the _Petrificus Totalus_ that flew through the air towards him once Hermione saw the red marker indicating that there was, in fact, a person watching her. Hermione purposefully strode over to the disillusioned person, anxious but also terrified to see who had been following her. Malfoy was just plain terrified. He would never admit it to her, but he knew Hermione was not just the brains of the Golden Trio. He had once watched her disarm and bind a fellow student during Defense Against the Dark Arts with a bored expression on her face, watching Harry's duel, not even turning to fully face her opponent. Draco had been so surprised, and dare he say _impressed_ , that his own opponent had nearly disarmed him! That being said, Draco Malfoy was scared.

Hermione paused a moment, took a deep breath, and said the words that would reveal to her the paralyzed person on the ground.

Within seconds, a very blonde Draco Malfoy materialized on the ground, frozen. Had the situation not been so serious, Hermione would have laughed. Who else would possibly have the gall or the motive to follow her? In truth, Hermione would have been more surprised had the person on the ground been someone other than the ferret.

Hermione and her captive stared at one another for a few seconds in silence, Hermione not knowing what to say, and Draco not being physically able to say anything. After a moment, Hermione broke the silence by saying:

"Alright Malfoy, here's what we're going to do. You've caught me in a rather…compromising situation, but I happen to know that you yourself were here in the early hours of this morning. I believe it to be in both of our best interests for neither of us to tell anyone about what we have seen the other doing. Now, I'm going to release curse and we are going to talk about this. Try any funny business, and I swear to Merlin I will not hesitate to curse you again." As was her nature, Hermione was placing a lot of trust in Malfoy, but beyond casting a potentially dangerous memory charm, she saw no other way to get out of this mess. She lifted the full-body bind and allowed Malfoy to slowly sit up.

Once more, Hermione and Malfoy stared at each other in silence, neither knowing what to do. Hermione, ever the Gryffindor, decided to plunge right into it,

"So, ferret, explain yourself," she said, "What nasty dark act are you plotting?" Malfoy's face twisted into a sneer as he replied:

"Explain myself? Why should I have to explain myself? What about you? What were you doing following me in here earlier?" Malfoy shot back, eyes narrowing.

"For your information I was researching immor—" Hermione quickly caught herself before she could give anything away, "I was researching information for a paper. Now it's your turn ferret."

"It's none of your business, mudblood. I didn't ask you to follow me last night so why don't you just leave me alone."

"Cut the crap Malfoy. In case you haven't noticed, _you_ followed _me_ today, so I'd consider us even. Now, are you going to tell me what you were doing with that book? Or do I have to go to the Headmaster with this information? I'm sure he'd be interested to know that the son of a Death Eater was breaking into the Restricted Section of the library."

Hermione and Malfoy stared at each other. Neither said a word. Hermione was certain that Malfoy would rather confess to her what he was doing than be forced to confess to Dumbledore. Malfoy was quickly coming to that conclusion as well, and he sighed heavily before saying:

"Alright fine. I was getting something for…for my father. He told me to find the book and bring it to him. I don't know anything about it, I'm just supposed to bring it to him." _Damn that bushy haired know-it-all and her ultimatums_ Malfoy thought to himself sighing and angrily running his hand through his hair.

Hermione raised her eyebrow, skeptical about Malfoy's supposed lack of knowledge about the book. "Are you sure you don't know what it's about? Why does your father want it?"

Malfoy smirked, "What makes you think I'd answer your questions, mudblood? We aren't friends and the only reason I haven't just walked away is because of your stupid threat. I told you more than I should have, and now I'm done. Run along to Wonder Boy and the Weasel and leave me alone." Malfoy stood up to walk away, glanced over his shoulder at the seventh row, and left without giving Hermione the chance to respond.

The door banged shut and Hermione stood in the Restricted Section for several minutes, puzzled about what Malfoy had said. _What could Lucius Malfoy need with that book?_ There was something fishy going on, and Hermione was determined to get to the bottom of it. First, though, she had to make sure that the slimy little ferret didn't get his hands on that book. Hermione set wards on the seventh row so that she could be notified whenever someone entered the aisle. She couldn't remove the book yet because it was chock full of dark magic that anyone would notice immediately, and she did not know how to go about removing a book from the Restricted Section without it going unnoticed. She _also_ knew that Malfoy couldn't remove the book yet, otherwise he would have done it the night before.

Hermione carefully opened the door to leave the Restricted Section, making sure to cast the cushioning spell again. She sighed heavily, her mind racing with new information and new questions. She would have to wait to get her answers, as Hermione glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly time for her next lesson. As Hermione walked briskly towards the library exit, she failed to notice the person ensconced in a niche off to her right. The shadowy figure's eyes followed Hermione until she could no longer be seen. _Hmmm…how curious_ , thought the figure, _Draco Malfoy storms out of the Restricted Section followed shortly by an agitated Hermione Granger. This could be very interesting indeed…_


End file.
